More L.A. Shorts

Bella and Jimmy are both into costumes which Bella had a closet-full of, so one went with Butterfly Mermaid Princess and the other was Rastafarian Cowboy Batman. The family where we stayed loved Jason’s authentic Chinese cooking and raved about the hotpot he prepared.

In the office where I once worked, we often giggled about the possibilities of romance around the corner and to see it realized — still as fresh as if the couple just got married yesterday — is something to aspire for and live by. I only heard of Ismael from Ate Badette so it was great to finally meet him. Ismael runs the L.A. marathon yearly and has amassed medals he proudly shows off.

A few weeks before we left China, a 10-year old American boy gave us some books from the series, Secret Agent Dingledorf. Joshua, Jimmy and I never laughed so hard reading a book so I immediately researched about the author, Bill Myers. His biography was quite inspiring and after finding out that he lived in Malibu, I sent him an email saying that we’ll be in the area in March and asked if it would be possible to meet him. He replied in the affirmative less than an hour later. Yesterday, we met up and he gave Joshua and Jimmy a book each and signed them plus, he even read to them a chapter from The Case of the Drooling Dinosaur. How cool is that? What an immense blessing indeed! He also introduced us to one of his students who happens to be from Tianjin which was our home in China. So I don’t know what this means except that life is truly full of wonder. Saying yes to the moment opens doors.

This is the part from Bill Myers’ biography that moved me:

Well, one thing led to another and even though I got C’s in my one writing class in college (and told God I could do anything for him but write) I got my first writing job for a TV series. And then another and then some directing jobs and finally some books. (I think I’ve written and/or directed a few dozen films and about 60 books). The projects have won about 40 awards, I get to travel all over the world, and I’m having the time of my life. I often think that none of this would have happened if I lived my life my way. I would have never chosen writing and directing for a living. Instead, I might be in somebody’s mouth this very minute drilling away as a dentist. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with being a dentist, it’s just not what I was designed for. So, everywhere I go, I encourage people to say yes to God, no matter how foolish it may feel, because by doing that, they’ll be in the center of His will and living a cooler life than they’d ever dreamed possible. It’s not always easy and it can be a little scary…but it’s anything but boring!

And we made it to Malibu beach! Before going down to the shore, we grabbed something to eat from the deli at Ralph’s supermarket, one of our strategies to economize.

And as promised, I completed meeting the children of Tita Joesy and Tito Sonny: Lareina, Leo, Lilibeth and Jay.

I also had a chat with an incredible, dynamic woman named Sue. She reminded me that a blog shouldn’t just be journal. It should contain something deeper. The problem, I told her, is that sometimes, I’m too much in a hurry to write something with more substance especially while traveling and there are too many things happening everyday. It’s easy for the blog to degenerate into a photo album but she reminds me to catch myself before it does.